10 Most Empowering Beyoncé Songs

By Ryan Curtis Outcault /

5. Partition

If the bawdy imagery presented in Partition is enough to make you question Beyoncé's status as a feminist icon, you are a perpetrator of slut-shaming. The sexuality on display is not meant for a cavalcade of suitors or even the listener. The passion Beyoncé exudes though the lyricism packed into this sultry banger is directed at her doting husband and for that reason it is all the more smouldering. This is the moment Beyoncé reclaims her image and sexuality as her own, not made to be marketed to the public, but moulded in the image of marital lust to showcase the most attractive representation of yourself for your partner. Some have questioned the fidelity of a woman so ready to gyrate seductively on cue and sing about sex in such a forthright manner, those individuals have forgotten that women have the right to express sexuality in any manner they choose. In many ways Beyoncé has updated the cultural lexicon to include lines as ridiculously salacious as "I don't need you seeing Yoncé on her knees" for the sake of female authorisation in a landscape where men have been championed for their sexual conquests while women are chided for being anything more than coquettish about their own desires and kinky interests. Partition is yet another example of Beyoncé leveling the playing field for men and women, even if that means getting a little dirty in the process.